Han entrevistado a LucifroN y a Vortix recientemente.
Entrevista a LucifroN:
The following interview was conducted via text from Oct 21st to 22nd, 2021. The text has been edited for clarity.
As a kid I watched my older brother play WC2 a lot, in fact he claims when I was 5 or something I would demand him to play so I could watch.
LucifroN is one-half of the renowned Durán brothers. To hear from his brother Vortix, you can check this interview. But this piece is all about the older of the two, Pedro "LucifroN" Moreno Durán.
I played few AoE games as a kid, maybe when I was 9 or 10? I think it was AoE1. Then this year I played a few 2v2 games with my brother, he mentioned a strat I could use in 1v1 without much experience in the game so I hoanged my way up to 1400 MMR. I think I played around 150 games total.
Around the time Starcraft Broodwar and Warcraft 3 released I started competing in WC3 in highschool, when I was 1516. I had the most success during my last highschool year, when I finished second at Blizzcon 2008 losing to Lyn, and then won the ESWC 2009 in Cheonan against Lyn.
Top 4 players in ESWC 09. Source: Liquipedia.net
Then during university I competed in SC2 and later Heroes of the Storm... ever since I graduated I didn't compete anymore, to be honest I completely stopped playing games for a couple years.
For many players, Age of Empires IV will be a new opportunity to temper their skill alongside experts from the Age of Empires franchise and and journeymen from all over RTS esports. In this, LucifroN is confident in his skills.
It's been a while since I had this much fun playing a new RTS tittle, maybe a decade... since SC2 was released. The game is very fun to play and it seems to me there's going to be a lot of competition.
The process of getting good in RTS tittles is very straightforward, you just need to watch a lot of replays from the best and try to understand why they do what they do --- then apply it yourself as many times as possible.
Once you are as good as them you can also come up with your own strategies. Since the game is new and there's everything to figure out, having the opportunity to constantly talk about the game with someone who is very talented (VortiX) makes it easier for the both of us to get close to the top rather fast.
Being a Professional player with such a wealth of experience in the RTS world gives LucifroN the insight that fans of the Age of Empires esport scene might lack. Such as how AoE2 pros will fair in the new title.
I already experienced this back when SC2 was released, everyone assumed BW pro gamers would have a huge advantadge... That wasn't really the case.
In the end it's a new game with completely different strategies/timings so I don't think they will have an edge over pros from other RTS games. With taht said, I can't tell how good AoE2 pros are since I haven't played against any of them.
I've exchanged a few messages [with AoE players] and read some conversations every now and then in the discord channels but nothing too indepth. My brother played AoE2:DE for a few months and got reasonably strong at the game (20002100 ELO), so he explained the basics to me as we played a few 2v2s.
In line with most other players, LucifroN has kept to himself, having only a few conversation, mainly with his brother, about potential game strategies.
For those that have kept up with the early developments of the AoE4 esports scene, You might remember seeing LucifroN at the top of the player rankings after the Closed Beta. 145 wins to his name and only a handful of losses. How?
I'd say around 70% of the games I played English and did some sort of longbowmen aggression.
I played the first closed beta that lasted for around 2 weeks, around 10--12 games a day. To be honest the first few games I wasn't that much into the game, but it grew on me really quickly. After few dozens games I was already having a blast and from that point on I played as much as my working schedule allowed. During the stress test I couldn't play that much, maybe 20 or 30 games. Back then I wasn't thinking about competition, just having fun and enjoying the game... I don't think you can compete in a game you don't enjoy playing.
I've watched a few VODs from other players[...]. In general I tried to watch those who I felt were strong based on my previous matches against them.
But going into the game's release he says he will start to open up his repertoire of civs and that, although powerful as a one off, it is clear that he will need to survive the Bo1 rounds first. That will be his focus.
In my experience from previous RTS titles attacking is easier than defending, so I think civs that can hit early timings will be the most successful ones early on. Maybe the cavalry-based ones? It's really hard to tell when I haven't even played several civs in the game yet.
For the first few days after release I will only play ladder, my goal is getting the best possible seed for the tournament. Once that is secured I will only play practice games with my brother, in such an early tournament strategies\
will be far more relevant than mechanics or any other aspect of the game so we will try to figure out what works best and keep it to ourselves :D.Going into GENESIS itself, What are LucifroN's expectations on the first major for Age of Empires IV?
It will be very hard to compete against the players currently practicing in the pre-release, Top 8 would already be great.
[...] a month ago I would have said VortiX, RecoN, TheMista, StriKeR, ZertoN and FE_Mark were the strongest players... Now I'm sure there are other players that got really strong playing the final build during the pre-release, so there are probably a few names I'm missing that should be in my list.
I think the players that could play during the pre-release will have an edge over the rest, as they come into the tournament with nearly a month of practice in the final build... I don't think their background matters as much.
Beyond this first major, how is LucifroN feeling about Age of Empires IV esports?
I see a lot of potential in the game in terms of esports success and also had a lot of fun during the closed beta. My current plan is to play the game for at least a year, participating in as many tournaments as possible and maybe streaming too.
You can follow Lucifron's progress in the competitive Age of Empires IV scene after GENESIS by following his Twitch channel.
Entrevista a VortiX:
Dudo mucho que esto vaya a tener algún tipo de relevancia dentro de los "deportes" electrónicos, pero bueno, ojalá.
